Events Pre-1600 763 – Following the Battle of Bakhamra between Alids and Abbasids near Kufa, the Alid rebellion ends with the death of Ibrahim, brother of Isa ibn Musa. 1525 – The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and about a dozen others baptize each other in the home of Manz's mother in Zürich, breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union. 1535 – Following the Affair of the Placards, the French king leads an anti-Protestant procession through Paris.
1601–1900 1720 – Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Stockholm. 1749 – The Teatro Filarmonico in Verona is destroyed by fire, as a result of a torch being left behind in the box of a nobleman after a performance. It is rebuilt in 1754. 1774 – Abdul Hamid I becomes Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam. 1789 – The first American novel, The Power of Sympathy or the Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth by William Hill Brown, is printed in Boston. 1793 – After being found guilty of treason by the French National Convention, Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine. 1824 – The Ashantis defeat British forces in the Gold Coast during the First Anglo-Ashanti War. 1854 – The sinks off Lambay Island on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to Australia with great loss of life. 1893 – The Tati Concessions Land, formerly part of Matabeleland, is formally annexed to the Bechuanaland Protectorate, now Botswana.
1901–present 1908 – New York City passes the Sullivan Ordinance, making it illegal for women to smoke in public, only to have the measure vetoed by the mayor. 1911 – The first Monte Carlo Rally takes place. 1915 – Kiwanis International is founded in Detroit. 1919 – A revolutionary Irish parliament is founded and declares the independence of the Irish Republic. One of the first engagements of the Irish War of Independence takes place. 1925 – Albania declares itself a republic. 1931 – Sir Isaac Isaacs is sworn in as the first Australian-born Governor-General of Australia. 1932 – Finland and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression treaty. 1941 – Sparked by the murder of a German officer in Bucharest, Romania, the day before, members of the Iron Guard engage in a rebellion and pogrom killing 125 Jews. 1942 – The Jewish resistance organization, Fareynikte Partizaner Organizatsye, based in the Vilna Ghetto is established.JEWISH PARTISANS, Holocaust Encyclopedia 1945 – The Trade Union Council of Transcarpathian Ukraine is founded in Mukachevo. 1948 – The Flag of Quebec is adopted and flown for the first time over the National Assembly of Quebec. The day is marked annually as Québec Flag Day. 1950 – American lawyer and government official Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury. 1951 – The catastrophic eruption of Mount Lamington in Papua New Guinea claims 2,942 lives. 1954 – The first nuclear-powered submarine, the , is launched in Groton, Connecticut by Mamie Eisenhower, the First Lady of the United States. 1960 – Little Joe 1B, a Mercury spacecraft, lifts off from Wallops Island, Virginia, with Miss Sam, a female rhesus monkey, on board. 1960 – Avianca Flight 671 crashes at Montego Bay, Jamaica airport, killing 37 people. 1960 – A coal mine collapses at Holly Country, South Africa, killing 435 miners. 1963 – The Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad ends operation."Rail buys CTA bonds, sells 'L' right of way." Chicago Daily Tribune. 1953-10-17. 1968 – Vietnam War, Battle of Khe Sanh: One of the most publicized and controversial battles of the war begins. 1968 – A B-52 bomber crashes near Thule Air Base, contaminating the area after its nuclear payload ruptures. One of the four bombs remains unaccounted for after the cleanup operation is complete. 1971 – The current Emley Moor transmitting station, the tallest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom, begins transmitting UHF broadcasts. 1976 – Commercial service of Concorde begins with the London-Bahrain and Paris-Rio routes. 1980 – Iran Air Flight 291 crashes in the Alborz Mountains while on approach to Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran, Iran, killing 128 people. 1981 – Production of the DeLorean sports car begins in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. 1985 – Galaxy Airlines Flight 203 crashes near Reno–Tahoe International Airport in Reno, Nevada, killing 70 people. 1986 – Conservative protestors attack a mock shanty town that had been erected on the Green at Dartmouth College as part of anti-apartheid protests. 1997 – The U.S. House of Representatives votes 395–28 to reprimand Newt Gingrich for ethics violations, making him the first Speaker of the House to be so disciplined. 1999 – War on drugs: In one of the largest drug busts in American history, the United States Coast Guard intercepts a ship with over of cocaine on board. 2000 – Ecuador: After the Ecuadorian Congress is seized by indigenous organizations, Col. Lucio Gutiérrez, Carlos Solorzano and Antonio Vargas depose President Jamil Mahuad. Gutierrez is later replaced by Gen. Carlos Mendoza, who resigns and allows Vice-President Gustavo Noboa to succeed Mahuad. 2003 – A 7.6 magnitude earthquake strikes the Mexican state of Colima, killing 29 and leaving approximately 10,000 people homeless. 2004 – NASA's MER-A (the Mars Rover Spirit) ceases communication with mission control. The problem lies in the management of its flash memory and is fixed remotely from Earth on February 6. 2005 – In Belmopan, Belize, the unrest over the government's new taxes erupts into riots. 2009 – Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip, officially ending a three-week war it had with Hamas. However, intermittent fire by both sides continues in the weeks to follow. 2011 – Anti-government demonstrations take place in Tirana, Albania. Four people die from gunshots, allegedly fired from armed police protecting the Prime Minister's office. 2014 – Rojava conflict: The Jazira Canton declares its autonomy from the Syrian Arab Republic. 2017 – Over 400 cities across America and 160+ countries worldwide participate in a large-scale women's march, including in Portland, on Donald Trump's first full day as President of the United States. 2023 – Huu Can Tran, 72, opens fire in a dance studio in Monterey Park, California, killing eleven people and injuring nine others before later committing suicide. It is the worst mass shooting in Los Angeles County since the 2008 Covina massacre. 2025 – A fire at the Grand Kartal Hotel in the Kartalkaya ski resort in Bolu Province, Turkey, results in 78 people dead and 51 injured.
Births Pre-1600 1264 – Alexander, Prince of Scotland (died 1284) 1277 – Galeazzo I Visconti, lord of Milan (died 1328) 1338 – Charles V of France (died 1380) 1493 – Giovanni Poggio, Italian cardinal and diplomat (died 1556) 1598 – Matsudaira Tadamasa, Japanese samurai and daimyō (died 1645)
1601–1900 1612 – Henry Casimir I of Nassau-Dietz, count of Nassau-Dietz (died 1640) 1636 – Melchiorre Cafà, Maltese Baroque sculptor (baptised; (died 1667) 1655 – Antonio Molinari, Italian painter (died 1704)Sonja Brink: Genio vigoroso ed originale. Die Zeichnungen des Antonio Molinari. (Ausstellungskatalog, Museum Kunst Palast, Sammlung der Kunstakademie Düsseldorf) Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2005. 1659 – Adriaen van der Werff, Dutch painter (died 1722) 1675 – Duchess Sibylle of Saxe-Lauenburg, Margravine of Baden-Baden (died 1733)Saskia Esser: Leben und Werk der Markgräfin Franziska Sibylla Augusta. Ausstellungskatalog, Stadt Rastatt, Rastatt 1983, . 1714 – Anna Morandi Manzolini, Italian anatomist (died 1774) 1717 – Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa, Spanish military officer and governor of Cuba (died 1779) 1721 – James Murray, Scottish-English general and politician, Governor of Minorca (died 1794) 1732 – Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg, son of Karl Alexander, Duke of Württemberg, and Princess Maria Augusta of Thurn and Taxis (died 1797) 1738 – Ethan Allen, American general (died 1789) 1741 – Chaim of Volozhin, Orthodox rabbi (died 1821) 1763 – Augustin Robespierre, younger brother of French Revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre (died 1794) 1775 – Manuel Garcia, Spanish opera singer and composer (died 1832) 1784 – Peter De Wint, English painter (died 1849) 1788 – William Henry Smyth, Royal Navy officer, hydrographer, astronomer and numismatist (died 1865) 1796 – Princess Marie of Hesse-Kassel, consort of George, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (died 1880) 1797 – Joseph Méry, French author and journalist (died 1866) 1800 – Theodor Fliedner, German Lutheran minister (died 1864) 1801 – John Batman, Australian entrepreneur and explorer (died 1839) 1804 – Moritz von Schwind, Austrian painter (died 1871) 1808 – Juan Crisóstomo Torrico, 16th President of Peru (died 1875) 1810 – Pierre Louis Charles de Failly, French general (died 1892) 1811 – James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Abercorn, British statesman (died 1885) 1813 – John C. Frémont, American general, explorer, and politician, 5th Territorial Governor of Arizona (died 1890) 1813 – Giuseppe Montanelli, Italian statesman and author (died 1862) 1814 – Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, German bibliographer and historian (died 1885) 1815 – Horace Wells, American dentist (died 1848) 1820 – Joseph Wolf, German ornithologist and illustrator (died 1899) 1820 – Egide Walschaerts, Belgian mechanical engineer (died 1901) 1824 – Stonewall Jackson, American general (died 1863) 1827 – Ivan Mikheevich Pervushin, Russian mathematician and theorist (died 1900) 1829 – Oscar II of Sweden (died 1907) 1831 – George Kerferd, English-Australian politician, 10th Premier of Victoria (died 1889) 1839 – Caterina Volpicelli, Italian Roman Catholic nun (died 1894) 1840 – Sophia Jex-Blake, English physician and feminist (died 1912) 1841 – Édouard Schuré, French philosopher and author (died 1929) 1843 – Émile Levassor, French engineer (died 1897) 1845 – Harriet Backer, Norwegian painter (died 1932) 1846 – Pieter Hendrik Schoute, Dutch mathematician and academic (died 1923) 1846 – Albert Lavignac, French music scholar (died 1916) 1847 – Joseph Achille Le Bel, French chemist (died 1930) 1848 – Henri Duparc, French soldier and composer (died 1933) 1851 – Giuseppe Allamano, Italian Roman Catholic priest (died 1926) 1854 – Karl Julius Beloch, German classical and economic historian (died 1929) 1854 – Eusapia Palladino, Italian spiritualist (died 1918) 1855 – Princess Maria Luisa of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, the youngest daughter of King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies (died 1874) 1860 – Karl Staaff, Swedish lawyer and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Sweden (died 1915) 1864 – Israel Zangwill, British author (died 1926) 1865 – Heinrich Albers-Schonberg, German gynecologist and radiologist (died 1921) 1867 – Ludwig Thoma, German paramedic and author (died 1921) 1867 – Maxime Weygand, Belgian-French general (died 1965) 1868 – Felix Hoffmann, German chemist (died 1946) 1869 – Grigori Rasputin, Russian mystic (died 1916) 1871 – Olga Preobrajenska, Russian ballerina (died 1962) 1873 – Arturo Labriola, Italian revolutionary syndicalist (died 1959) 1874 – René-Louis Baire, French mathematician (died 1932) 1875 – Paul E. Kahle, German orientalist (died 1964) 1877 – Baldassarre Negroni, Italian director and screenwriter (died 1948) 1878 – Vahan Tekeyan, Armenian poet and activist (died 1948) 1880 – George Van Biesbroeck, Belgian–American astronomer (died 1974) 1881 – Ernst Fast, Swedish runner (died 1959) 1881 – André Godard, French archaeologist, architect and historian (died 1965) 1881 – Ivan Ribar, Yugoslav politician (died 1968) 1882 – Pavel Florensky, Russian mathematician and theologian (died 1937) 1882 – Francis Gailey, Australian-American swimmer (died 1972) 1883 – Olav Aukrust, Norwegian poet and educator (died 1929) 1883 – Oskar Baum, Bohemian writer (died 1941) 1883 – Mathias Hynes, British tug of war competitor (died 1926) 1885 – Duncan Grant, British painter and designer (died 1978)